(This "nonsense puzzle" gets its name from the puzzle I saw it from)

A shopper went into a shop and wanted a dollar's worth of chestnuts when he gave the shopkeeper a one dollar bill and was given five chestnuts. "It is not enough; I ought to have a sixth," the shopper remarked. "But you will have five too many if I gave you one chestnut more", the shopkeeper replied.

How many chestnuts should the man have gotten for 3 twenty dollar bills?

310 chestnuts.

"A sixth" means a sixth of a chestnut. "Five too many" means 5/6 too many.

You can get 31/6 chestnuts for a buck; you can get 31 for $6; you can get 310 for $60.

Posted by dave domingo on 2004-01-27 17:52:00